[CTC] AFL-CIO: US shouldn't rubber-stamp a USMCA extension

Thu Feb 12 06:26:09 PST 2026

[image: POLITICO Pro's Morning Trade newsletter logo]

BY *ARI HAWKINS* <ahawkins at politico.com>

*QUICK FIX*

*— T**he nation’s largest labor federation will tell lawmakers today the
United States* shouldn’t “rubber-stamp” an extension of USMCA.

*— The House on Wednesday voted to block President Donald Trump’s tariffs* on
Canada in a mostly symbolic move.

...

*FIRST IN MORNING TRADE:* Testifying before the Senate Finance Committee
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 this morning, a representative for the AFL-CIO will make it clear that the
nation’s largest labor federation is not in favor of a 16-year extension of
USMCA — at least "without major reforms.”

"More than five years since the USMCA entered into force, it is clear that
the agreement is failing to deliver for workers in all three countries,"
policy specialist Eric Gottwald will tell lawmakers, according to a copy of
his opening statement,
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 obtained by Morning Trade.

Gottwald will add that a “rubber stamp” of the agreement is “not in the
national interest,” echoing comments USTR Jamieson Greer made in his
testimony to Senate Finance in December. Greer had claimed at the time that
the U.S. would only recommend renewal of the deal if a litany of distinct
issues with Mexico and Canada are addressed
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.

“We strongly encourage Congress and the Administration to ... insist on
improvements to the agreement so that it delivers on its promise to promote
dignity and fair competition," Gottwald says in his prepared remarks.

*Reminder:* The AFL-CIO endorsed USMCA in 2019
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 only after the first Trump administration applied revisions to the pact’s
labor enforcement provisions that it had demanded.

Other major labor groups have also called for sweeping changes to the pact.
The United Auto Workers in December urged revisions to strengthen job
security and wages, bolster labor rights protections and establish a floor
for labor, health, safety and environmental standards across North America.

“We strongly believe that if these three metrics are not met in a
renegotiated agreement, the U.S. has a duty to withdraw,” said Jason Wade,
top administrative assistant to UAW President Shawn Fain, on the second day
of USTR’s USMCA hearings
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.

*Clashing cast: *Former House Ways and Means Chair Kevin Brady, who helped
negotiate the deal, is also testifying at today's hearing, along with Paul
McCarthy, president and CEO of MEMA, the Vehicle Suppliers Association, and
Ted Vander Schaaf of Vander Schaaf Farms, a family-owned company based in
Idaho. They are expected to largely disagree with AFL-CIO's assessment.

In separate testimony obtained by Morning Trade, Brady calls USMCA the
“gold standard.”

“As a result of President Trump’s USMCA, Canada and Mexico together are now
America’s top customers, investors and suppliers — all in one. This is an
unprecedented commitment to America’s success that no other country can
claim,” Brady will say, now a senior consultant at Akin and co-chair of the
Coalition for North American Trade, a group that backs the extension of
USMCA.

*Options open: *Trump recently dismissed the three-country deal as
“irrelevant”
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 during a visit to a Ford Motor Co. plant near Detroit and floated pursuing
separate bilateral agreements.

Greer underscored that posture last week in an interview with Fox Business,
saying negotiations are likely to proceed “bilaterally and separately,”
adding that talks with Mexico have been “quite pragmatic” while discussions
with Canada are “more challenging.”
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*ON THE HILL*

*TARIFF VOTE DEFIES TRUMP:* Six Republicans joined Democrats in the House
to deliver a symbolic rebuke of Trump’s tariffs on Canada.

The resolution
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 to disapprove of the national emergency Trump declared to raise tariffs on
Canada was approved 219-211.

Republican Reps. Kevin Kiley
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 of California, Thomas Massie
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 of Kentucky, Don Bacon
<https://url8086.email.politicopro.com/ss/c/u001.2Z4DCAMF7Pq6fUenFyNGNTJibOcoTusa12Jh7uHsl_ykQ4p_ZxUtLl9VvXxUjv0x1ODaRy1UDvBYxuC7YVA5hQ/4o3/SejK_xP5SASMnDZzOI7qkg/h15/h001.X3Jx4XXNvr8C7QK-Do3RZaH0jiq9EqXoEerww4Z1qf8>
 of Nebraska, Brian Fitzpatrick
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 of Pennsylvania, Jeff Hurd
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 of Colorado and Dan Newhouse
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Washington voted in favor of the measure and against the tariffs. Rep. Jared
Golden
<https://url8086.email.politicopro.com/ss/c/u001.2Z4DCAMF7Pq6fUenFyNGNTJibOcoTusa12Jh7uHsl_ykQ4p_ZxUtLl9VvXxUjv0x5X7rXvIIR2dOxyYowOyEPA/4o3/SejK_xP5SASMnDZzOI7qkg/h19/h001.e0HEf6MOlyIqTnHbJD81wGGbsuPNKEKEM__d_E3R6FE>of
Maine was the only Democrat to vote against the measure.

*What’s next?* The resolution now goes to the Senate, where it could pass.
The upper chamber has already approved two similar resolutions on Trump’s
Canada tariffs with the support of four Republicans.

Still, the president would certainly veto it, and Congress is unlikely to
muster the two-thirds majority in both chambers needed to overturn a veto.

Even so, Speaker Mike Johnson
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 tried to block the vote from happening at all
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fearing the political fallout for his GOP members.
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